Microsoft Surface sales fall well below expectation, sources claim

Microsoft has sold about 1.5 million Surface tablets since the device launched, and sources claim that the figure is way below what the company had hoped.

The tablet runs a version of Windows 8, the same operating system that received highly-publicised scorn from Valve’s Gabe Newell, among others. The debate didn’t do much for the device’s popularity among gamers.

Today Bloomberg reports that three sources close to the matter explained that Microsoft has sold just over a million Surface RT models, and 400,000 Surface Pro units.

The sources added that Microsoft had ordered 3 million Surface RT models, suggesting that the spare 2 million are waiting to be sold.

By comparison, the site points out that Apple shifted 22.9 million iPads in the last quarter.